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Interesting. As I said previously, I have not tried the LNB as a functional unit, only the lens, which seems to work ok on a couple of dishes. The statement concerning being a 'PLL type' was based on a Single output version that I opened, please see photos below.

73
Jen

Hello Jen,

Yes I did see You bought the Single output version, I took the gamble buying the Twin version (was even doubting about the Quad version), but sadly the Twin version = DRO
I have decided to stay with my present Inverto (Single)Longneck before going to any Twin or Quad (I finally want to use at least 2 ports for simultaneous NB + WB QO-100 RX

Yay! Success.... I now have a 'lovely' red lens which came off intact.
Incidentally, the reason it wasn't gunked onto the w/g with silicone is that it has a nice o-ring seal trapped between the face of the w/g and a small lip on the inside of the lens.

I'm curious about the internal construction of the lens, and I can get hold of another one of these lnbs, so I might sacrifice a lens - saw it in half, nose to tail - to see its insides.

Now looking for materials for the feed - any thoughts on whether copper or brass is better for the sheet/tube ?

Sorry to hear that you didn't get what you were expecting with your Dual o/p AB LNB. One thing that crossed my mind was whether it was from 'old stock'. Looking at the serial number of your unit, it starts with 2016... whereas my Single unit starts with 2017....I took a look at the AB website and all models appear to have the same Phase Noise spec and imply PLL type.

Not wishing to get drawn into LNB discussions on the 'Lens thread' but I looked at a Single o/p device that I have. It looks pretty straightforward, with no apparent filtering and so I checked the RF output on the spectrum analyzer. The noise shape seemed pretty flat from about 600MHz upwards until about 1.4GHz (where it dipped a bit), this with the 9750MHz LO. Using test signals in a rough radiated environment, 10494MHz (744MHz at IF) was in the 'flat' part of the spectrum, similarly with 10368MHz (618MHz at IF). This was of course, a PLL type as pictured previously. If I get time, I shall check its performance on QO-100.

That's the one you want, with the flat end and in two pieces that slot together. The pointy thing it for cases where you cannot get a rocket lens, and there is a newer design by HB9PZK of that which is better that will be published soon.

Mike

Ok, now I’m confused. Both Mike and Noel (who has seen the actual lens I have) have both have said that what I have is ‘the one I need’...
However, on re-reading Mike’s post (above), it mentions “two pieces that slot together” - mine is a ‘single’ piece (well, ok it’s a red outer shell with white insides, but they seem to be bonded together).
I’ll try to attach a couple of pics of one slightly damaged one so you can see what I mean.

The other thing is that it doesn’t fit on the end of 22mm pipe - the internal diameter of the red bit is too big. It is, however a reasonably good fit into 28mm copper pipe.

All comments and suggestions welcome.

73
John M

Rear view

E157E1CE-DB42-43E8-B431-6294F9FCD0A5.jpeg (1.71 MiB) Viewed 248 times

Front view

C1877C37-A362-4E9F-9305-BA03121AEC21.jpeg (1.86 MiB) Viewed 248 times

Last edited by G8PEF on Wed May 15, 2019 4:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Ah! I have just managed to get the white bit out of the red shell. The inner appears to be just a cylindrical white block (polyethylene?) apart from the single machined/moulded ring on the end facing the waveguide, visible in the photos above.

Comments welcomed.
J

Last edited by G8PEF on Wed May 15, 2019 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I tried various lenses and horns with my POTY patch antenna on a 1.2 metre dish with a f/d of 0.4 but everything I tried caused either a drop in received signal strength or transmit power. I ended up with the waveguide projecting 7mm in front of the patch (1/4 wave at 10.4 GHz) which seems to give the best results for transmit and receive.
I used a rocket lens on my 80cm sky dish which gave a few dB improvement on receive on narrowband.

I tried various lenses and horns with my POTY patch antenna on a 1.2 metre dish with a f/d of 0.4 but everything I tried caused either a drop in received signal strength or transmit power. I ended up with the waveguide projecting 7mm in front of the patch (1/4 wave at 10.4 GHz) which seems to give the best results for transmit and receive.
I used a rocket lens on my 80cm sky dish which gave a few dB improvement on receive on narrowband.